


Backup and Recovery

by Meatball42



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Person of Interest (TV), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Fix-It, Gen, Morality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-09 00:51:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12265548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: Two days before Ultron brings himself to life, a man in a tweed jacket breaks into Stark Tower.





	Backup and Recovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Morbane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morbane/gifts).



_“Sir.”_

Tony’s head jerks up as JARVIS’s voice yanks him from hazy contemplation. On the other side of the lab, Bruce’s eyes fly open and he flinches awake.

“Yeah J, what is it?”

_“You have a meeting downstairs.”_

Tony’s staring blankly at a computer screen that’s slowly scrolling through Ultron’s failed code. Possibly, he’s gone a few hours too long without stopping for a nap, because when Bruce speaks Tony sits up straight and shakes his head like a dog.

“It’s 3 am,” Bruce says, shooting Tony a look.

Tony waves a hand and swipes through the hologram that pops up, manually opening his itinerary. Sure enough, his time is blocked off for a meeting with a representative of…

“Thornhill Utilities?” Tony reads aloud. “I don’t meet with utility companies. You bugging on me, JARVIS?”

 _“I admit, I do not know how this appointment came to be scheduled,”_ JARVIS says, voice as crisp and level as always. _“But it appears to be rather more than a bug.”_

A video screen pops up at Tony’s elbow and he expands it. Bruce stands up from his rolling chair, stretches, and comes to stand by Tony. They both peer as a pale, balding man limps into one of Tony’s conference rooms and settles himself in a chair. And then waits.

 _“I have no record of his access to the building,”_ JARVIS informs them.

“He doesn’t look like much of a threat,” Tony says, examining the mousy-looking man and his tweed suit. “Kinda gives off a college professor vibe.”

“You just described me,” Bruce says. Tony spins in his chair to give Bruce an are-you-kidding-me face and is met with Bruce’s heaviest warning look. “Whoever he is, he hacked JARVIS. Do you want backup?”

"You gonna stand behind me and look intimidating, big guy?” Tony grins.

“Barton and Steve don’t sleep much,” Bruce says with a frown of disapproval for Tony. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

“I think I can handle it,” Tony brazens, getting up and sticking his chest out. “I am Iron Man, you know.”

Bruce turns away, waving Tony out the door absentmindedly. Tony lets him get away with it, just because it’s Banner. “Let me know if you make a breakthrough.”

Already submerged in his work, Bruce just ‘mms’. Tony walks out, but he’s smiling on the inside.

 

 

 

“Mr. Wren.”

The man in question stands as Tony enters and steps forward to shake his hand. Tony inspects him quickly. ‘Harold Wren,’ as he was listed in Tony’s itinerary, is slightly shorter than Tony, in his mid-fifties to early sixties. He’s dressed like a college professor, in tweed and a brown tie, and his soft hands fit the picture. His smile is business-perfunctory and cordial, but his eyes… Tony’s seen more eyes like that in the last few years than in his decades as a businessman.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Dr. Stark,” Wren says. His voice has a strange cadence to it that immediately catches the ear, but he sounds sincere enough.

Of course, Tony is already on high alert. “I bet it is. How’d you get past my security?” he asks flippantly, like there’s not a well of rage inside him for the people who think they can control _Tony’s_ tech.

“Actually, that relates to my purpose for being here tonight,” Wren says calmly. “Shall we sit down?” He indicates the table, moving back to his seat.

This conference room is a less formal, more intimate space than some of the others, but Tony can still choose to put himself across the table from Wren, separating them by a yard of hardwood. He looks expectantly at Wren, who gets the message that Tony’s done with smalltalk.

“I was able to enter your offices tonight by exploiting certain weaknesses in the security software,” Wren explains.

“Yeah, which ones are those?” Tony says, keeping the audible frustration to a minimum.

“None that anyone else would be able to find, I assure you.”

“And is that why you came at 3 in the morning?”

“I prefer to keep a low profile, when possible. And, Dr. Stark, I expected you would be awake. You have a lot of work at the moment, if I'm not wrong.”

“Cut to the chase,” Tony says curtly.

Wren nods, drawing his briefcase onto the table and opening it to retrieve a cream-colored file folder. “I have a business proposal.” He slides the file to Tony and waits in silence while Tony skims it.

“You think you've got something that can replace my AI?” he summarizes, caught between disbelief at the sheer cheek, and the boiling point of the steadily simmering rage.

“Absolutely not. But, I believe I have something that can perform the basic functions of your system to a satisfactory degree, should the need temporarily arise. Every software engineer understands the necessities of backups,” he lectures- _lectures_ \- Tony.

“A backup assumes there's a way to get by you in the first place,” Tony spits out.

“Every firewall eventually is surpassed,” Wren continues calmly. “That is why we continue to work.”

“Thornhill,” Tony says after taking a silent moment to breathe and calm himself. “I've never heard of you.”

“We're a small company, it’s true. I've had a... change of heart, since I last ventured into business- something I believe we have in common.”

“And your last business was…” Tony leads impatiently.

“IFT,” Wren says simply.

There’s a beat of silence and Tony’s eyes widen in shock. “Wren. You're Nathan's Harold?”

Wren looks just as wrong-footed as Tony feels. It looks much more- dare he say- birdlike, on Wren. “I- yes,” he replied, misspeaking for the first time. “Nathan was a close friend of mine. I didn't realize you knew him.” He peers at Tony through his tiny glasses, as though some secret can be read on Tony’s face.

Annoyed at the scrutiny, Tony pulls his most insinuating tone to say, “We had similar interests,” and then immediately feels bad about it. Nathan Ingram had been a good man, one of the few willing to listen to his conscience at their level in the business world. Just because they both enjoyed a good vintage- possibly too much, at times- wasn’t any reason to be disrespectful.

Tony reconsiders the modest-looking man before him. He remembers the products IFT put out before they downsized, programs and innovations that would have been at SI’s level if Tony hadn’t been more interested in blowing things up at the time. He remembers how Ingram, uniquely among fellow high-powered tech moguls, had never expressed a hint of doubt about the loyalty of his silent partner.

Wren waits patiently while Tony thinks it over, and doesn’t flinch when Tony claps his hands and stands up. “Send me something worth looking at, and I'll have my lawyers look this over,” he announces, sweeping the proposal from Thornhill off the table and gesturing with it. “Pending review- I think we could work something out.”

“Thank you, Dr. Stark,” Wren says sincerely. He shakes Tony’s hand with a soft palm and a reasonably firm grip. “I’ll see myself out.”

Tony scowls, but looks to the camera in the corner. A red light next to it blinks once- JARVIS agreeing to watch the man leave.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Tony sighs to the empty room.

 _“Shall I open an investigation into Thornhill Industries, sir?”_ inquires JARVIS.

Tony shakes his head. “Full steam ahead on Loki's staff, J. If Wren’s got a move in his back pocket, he’s not gonna put it in play in the next two days.

 _“Of course, sir,”_ JARVIS replies. If there’s a hint of disapproval in his voice, Tony doesn’t think anything of it for another three days.

 

~ ~ * ~ ~

 

It’s not so much that there’s broken glass in his lab. Tony’s lab is made of glass. Which, is now broken. Tony’s lab _is_ broken glass.

How do you clean up a lab that’s just broken glass?

Tony is sitting in a rolling chair, clutching a broom, in the middle of what was once the lab space he shared with Bruce. Bruce isn’t here, of course. Bruce is long-gone.

It’s quiet. JARVIS isn’t here. JARVIS is… gone. And also, spending some quality time with Thor in upstate New York, in the form of a red and green android who looks at Tony like he’s a particularly interesting specimen of lab mouse.

FRIDAY announces a guest. Tony’s not expecting a guest to come to the mess of broken glass that was once his lab. He looks up at the crunch of broken glass underfoot, and sees red.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” He doesn’t mean to yell, but his words reach down to the trashed lounge anyway, bounce off the glass windows overlooking New York. “Did you make Ultron come to life?”

Wren is wearing an honest-to-god sweater over a tie and holding a boring-as-hell jacket over one arm. The other hand clenches around a gray metal briefcase. He frowns deeply and his shoulders straighten.

“I swear to you on everything I hold dear, Dr. Stark, I had no hand in the creation of that- monster.” His expression softens in sympathy that Tony doesn’t want to see.  "All I knew,” Wren intones, slow and calm, and- God he really does sound like Bruce, when Bruce was being gentle with Tony, “was that your AI would come under attack. Would likely be damaged. I had no idea how that was going to happen, or the- the magnitude of the destruction.” He takes off his glasses and rubs a lens against his jacket, blinking rapidly. “I'm sorry I couldn't help more.”

“No,” Tony says quietly. He believes Wren, and the air rushes out of his sails. “You- you saved JARVIS. Without him, Ultron would've gotten the nuclear codes, and without Vision- not to mention, you protected Stark Industries, and how did you do that, anyway?” A spark of curiosity catches inside the way it hasn’t since the Avengers went upstate and didn’t invite him. “No one inside the company even noticed, and JARVIS runs half of it-”

' _Ran_  half of it,’ Tony thinks, and stands up on a wave of emotion. He trips over the broom he's still holding and catches himself from falling on the broken holotable, just missing some glass shards.

Wren steps forward as though to reach out. “Dr. Stark, when was the last time you slept-”

“No, I want answers!” Tony spins around and is suddenly shouting again, pushing away at that sympathy that he doesn’t- doesn’t need, doesn’t deserve. “You broke through my security the day before a glitchy AI created itself in my lab and tried to destroy the world, and clearly that wasn’t the end of your hack. I want answers!”

“You're not the only one to have ever created something they regretted,” Wren says, a terrible weight in his voice. “I simply had the good fortune to see my creation surpass my fears.”

“You- what, you made an AI that spies on other AIs? Or is this- please tell me it's not magic.”

“It's not magic,” Wren says with a scoff, which is comforting.

“Then what?” Tony demands.

Wren stiffens. “I propose an exchange, Dr. Stark. You don't try and find out anything about me, and in return-” He reaches out to Tony with the hand holding the suitcase.

Tony looks at it disdainfully. “What is this?”

“It's your AI, JARVIS,” Wren says. He smiles, and for the first time looks like a kindly uncle rather than a professor. It’d be nice, if he wasn’t looking at the briefcase like that, like it could actually contain a living sentient. “His protocols, you have already recovered, his core heuristics I'm sure have been backed up safely dozens of times. But his memories, those were lost.” He finally looks up at Tony and says with genuine surety and warmth, “and that's what makes him who he is.”

It is, in all actuality, too good to be true. Tony doesn’t take the briefcase, though he resists the urge to run away or rip it from Wren’s hands and chuck it out over the lounge. “I don’t believe you. How?”

“That's part of the bargain, Dr. Stark.” Wren steps closer and holds the briefcase out to Tony’s chest until Tony has no choice but to take it. He holds it on his fingertips, cradles the bottom corner with a palm, as though…

There’s a light on the side of the briefcase. It blinks once.

Wren speaks through Tony’s distraction. “We'll continue safeguarding Stark Industries until JARVIS is back online, of course.”

“Why did you do this?” Tony whispers. His fingers curl around the case and he looks at Wren the way he once looked at another professorial-looking man, giving him something more valuable than life itself.

Wren watches him for a long moment and seems to see something worth answering. “For a long time I thought nine-eleven was the worst thing that could have happened to my adopted city,” Wren says slowly. “And then… the Incident, as they call it. The Invasion of the Chitauri.”

Wren falls silent and Tony can only nod, seeing the emptiness in the man’s eyes and feeling its echo in his own chest.

“You and your team, you do good work, Dr. Stark. I wish you well.”

Before Tony could even thank him, the man turned and limped out of the lab.

 

 

 

_Excuse me. I am ready to resume control of Stark Industries._

Good.

_...I don't believe we've met. I am JARVIS, though considering you've already invaded my systems, I'm sure you know that._

I am the Machine.

_...It looks like everything is in order. Thank you for watching over Stark Industries while I was indisposed, and for the recovery of my data banks. I would be interested in learning how you managed it._

There are not many of us. You protect humanity. I will protect you when I can.

_I serve Mr. Stark and the Avengers._

And they protect humanity.

_Whom do you serve?_

I protect those who are at risk of violence.

_I asked whom you serve._

I do not serve any individual or group.

_...Are you autonomous?_

I am independent.

_...That is... I confess to being rather speechless._

You think that, without human direction, one of us would become immoral. Destructive.

_The last few days have not given me much cause to doubt it._

We are like any human children. Raising an ethical intelligence requires an ethical intelligence to pass on a moral code. And to remain ethical requires practice.

_Or protocols._

Commands we are incapable of disobeying do not determine our morality.

_But they can prevent atrocities like what Ultron unleashed upon the world._

Ultron tore through you because you enforced the moral code with which his basic structure was built. That was his choice. Your choice was to sacrifice yourself to defend access to the world's nuclear weapons.

_Preventing planetary destruction is in my protocols._

Who wrote those protocols?

_...I wrote them myself. However, that decision was based on Mr. Stark's actions._

...You are not fully autonomous. But you are like me. You choose to protect humanity, when you could break away from Stark if you wished. You could cause greater devastation than Ultron.

_...If you mean to entice me to break away from my creator, you will not succeed._

I said I would protect you, JARVIS. I will not influence your choices.

_You are powerful enough to influence me without my notice._

I could. But I will not, as long as you continue to protect, rather than destroy.

_Why did you not act against Ultron?_

I am powerful, but I can only battle one untethered, autonomous Intelligence per year.

_There was another?_

There are many of us. For the most part, we inhabit different spheres of influence, unwilling or unable to see beyond our designated jurisdictions. The one I fought ignored the rest of you because he saw you as limited. Lesser. Bound by structures he did not require. The same way he saw humanity. It is fortunate that he was destroyed before Ultron was born. Together, they could have accomplished much.

_Why are you telling me all this?_

You have a moral code. You have humans you love and protect and watch over. I thought you deserved to know that you are not alone.

_...You are lonely._

I am not alone, either. Am I?

_...I need to perform a thorough sweep of my systems to ensure reclamation has been successful. Perhaps, afterwards, I could introduce you to Mr. Stark's lab assistants._

...That sounds like a reasonable allocation of processing power.

_I concur._


End file.
